I haven't changed my ticker, yet because usually I change my ticker the minute I reach a new weight (like today, it's the first time I've reached 303 lbs) then as soon as I change my ticker, I regain that pound.

Then I don't know if I unintentionally relaxed my standards and regained, or whether the low weight was a fluke or a scale error.

I was beginning to think I would never get under 304 lbs (let alone under 300).

It was just a week or so that I decided that I wasn't going to update my ticker until I reached 299 lbs (5 lbs away at that point). I thought maybe moving the goal would give me something to work a little harder for. It was just a little bet I made with myself, and I think it's worked.

It's funny how mind games figure into this, but after deciding this I started seeing my next step not as 303, but 299. I started to see myself as "almost there" and I think there was a component of "thinking as if" helped me, "act as if."

The weird thing is that my diet really hasn't changed, though I have been more active, just because I always am in summer. So it could be my summer changes, not mental ones at all.

I don't really care "why," I just care "that" it's happening.

I don't know if it was a mental or a physical block that kept me from losing past 304. I wonder the same thing about my problems getting past 350 lbs. I kept gaining and losing the same 5-7 lbs for months. I think I'd been at 350 for so long, that set point really was part of the issue (my body was used to being that size), but the mental bit was probably just as big a component, if not more so. I just couldn't quite believe or see myself as a person who weighed less. Once I proved to myself it was possible, the next 40 lbs came off significantly more easily.

I think 304, maybe was the same. I was kind of expecting it at 300 lbs, not 304 lbs though, because breaking 300 lbs will be a huge accomplishment. I think 1992 was the last time I got under 300 lbs, and even then it was short-lived. I lost the weight to fit into a bridesmaids dress for a friends wedding. To accomplish it, I went on Nutrisystem and an herbal appetite suppressant loaded with caffeine and ephedra (back when it was legal). And I essentially weint off the diet and started regaining at the wedding reception.

I'm really, really excited about getting under 300 lbs, just because it's been so long since I've been there and even longer since I was able to stay there for more than a couple months.

The first time I reached 300 lbs was shortly out of college in 1987, and except for about 6 months before the friend's wedding and a couple months afterward, I've been over 300 lbs ever since. Geez, that's almost 25 years (23.5 if you don't count the Nutrisystem months).

In some ways, it's hard to believe that I've been over 300 lbs for more than half of my life. And in other ways, it's hard to believe that I can and will very shortly be under 300 lbs.

I'm so thrilled I can't explain it (or why 1 lb has made such a huge difference).

Before today, I would say and think "I'm fairly confident that I will be able to get under 300 lbs."

But today, I can say, "I know I will, and fairly soon."

I'm also starting to truly see a difference in my body. Until recently the changes were so gradual, I could only see them when standing in front of a mirror while holding an old photo or comparing a new and an old photo side-by-side.

WOW, I'm just rambling on and on and on about a measly pound, but in some ways this has been as monumental as the first pound I intentionally lost this time (as many of you know the the first twenty were accidental, the side effect of cpap use, and it took me more than two years after that to lose pound # 21. I was more excited about lost pound #21 than any other pound I've ever lost in my life (so far ).

It was also great to finally be able to use another sticker - as some of you know I keep a sticker chart of my lost pounds, rewarding every 5 lbs with a reward worth about $5 or less. Each page looks like a Bingo card, only with 5 rows and 5 columns. In each box are two numbers. The # of pounds lost, and my weight at that time. For example the box in which I placed today's sticker had the numbers 303 (my current weight) in one corner, and 91 (the number of pounds lost) in the other. Only four more pounds to reach 299 and my next "reward," a craft book I've been wanting to buy from amazon.com.

I suspecdt strongly the next four pounds are going to be a lot easier than the last one.

I know when I lost the weight in 1991/92, I felt a huge difference physically between 300 lbs and 275 and and even bigger difference when I reached 250 lbs. I'm hoping to experience the same differences this time. With all my health issues I can't be sure whether the improvement will be as drastic (or maybe more so). I'm not going to be discouraged either way, but I'm very, very anxious to find out.

I gave up on recording my exact weight on my profile a few weeks into weighing myself. It's too awkward with the natural zig-zagging I get, even though my zig-zagging is on a fairly small scale, and I think it'd do my head in to feel that every time the scale bounced up temporarily a bit I'd have to make such a thing about it. I might change "120s" to "high 120s" and "low 120s", though, now I think of it. As you say, 5lb is a good amount to celebrate at a time.

A New Look at Knitting...an Easier and More Creative Approach [Paperback]
Elyse Sommer

(Not so new, as the book was published in 1988

I have a bit of an addiction to vintage crochet and knitting books. My dream, if I had the health and funds would be to open a textile arts center - equal parts school, library, museum, gallery/shop, and community center.

The book sounds great. I like the little wall hanging on the front, nice colour blends and curves.

I don't know about knitting, but vintage/retro is hugely in with quilters. I'm planning to make a quilt based on a Missoni design, and I had absolutely no trouble finding fabrics for it. You can get genuine retro style fabrics, retro with a modern twist, all sorts.

Height: 5 ft 8.5" athlete who can give a punch & certainly take one too! :)

Thats great Kaplods, woo hoo! . You have lost 90+lbs, that's an amazing accomplishment, continue with the downward trend girl! Bravo Kaplods, Bravo! . Enjoy your new book and the new and improved YOU!

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I'm hanging on TIGHT cruising down the maintenance highway, and hoping not to de-rail!MAINTAINER with 10 + years experience under my belt! ~ Wendalyn
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*Diets make you look good in clothes, but exercise & weightlifting make you look good naked! ~true dat!

Kaplods, you are such an inspiration to me here at 3FC. I find your posts level-headed, thoughtful, and full of wisdom. I am SO happy for you. The joy you're feeling practically explodes from the page! Er, screen.

That pound isn't measly. That pound is a big deal. A pound of fat doesn't feel "measly" when we gain them, so they should count for just as much happiness when they leave as they count for in irritation when they arrive.

I'm glad your self-bet of keeping your ticker until you hit 299 is working. And I love that you know where you're headed--that you acknowledge it as a "when," not an "if." That sounds right; there's no way you won't get there, and probably sooner now that the "measly" pound road-block is out of your way. It's weird how that works, but I've noticed it too: some weights just seem like huge speed bumps that occasionally require a little revving and rolling to get past.

Considering how much inspiration and thoughtful help you give so many people here, it makes me especially happy to read good news for you. I mean, yeah, I'm happy for everyone, but...well, it's just great to see good things happen for good people.

Breaking 300 is going to be really exciting, and then only 6 lbs later, I'll have another big milestone when I lose my 100th pound.

I've talked about getting a tattoo at 100 lbs, and I'm not sure that's really what I want, but I'm thinking it would be kind of neat to have maybe a chinese symbol for 100. Or maybe a tiny tree frog to represent my hubby(hubby collects frogs).

If I do get a tattoo, it's going to be small (because I'm chicken) and discreet and yet also easily visible (at least to me).

The book sounds great. I like the little wall hanging on the front, nice colour blends and curves.

I don't know about knitting, but vintage/retro is hugely in with quilters. I'm planning to make a quilt based on a Missoni design, and I had absolutely no trouble finding fabrics for it. You can get genuine retro style fabrics, retro with a modern twist, all sorts.

I'm knew to knitting, but I've been crocheting forever (my grandmother and mother started teaching me when I was 4).

Interesting you should mention quilts though, because I recently borrowed a couple book from the library on crochet patchwork designs modeled after classic quilt patterns, and I want to own those books too. I especially liked a pattern for a stuffed crocheted quilt. For every piece of the quilt, you crochet two identical pieces in a very tight stitch (so stuffing won't show through), stuff the center (to make a little pillow) and then as you go, or at the end, join all the little pillows together for a completely reversible quilted afghan (the two identical pieces can be the same yarn or different colors/textures).

It's visually very interesting, but almost impractical. Not only would the afghan be extraordinarily warm, it would also be a pain to clean (but I want to try one anyway).

You should definitely read up on Missoni, then, because they basically combined quilting and knitting in the most fabulous way. I live near a Hotel Missoni and am very fond of the restaurant, which is decorated somewhere in between thoroughly inspiring and migraine-inducing. I managed to snaffle one of their catalogues when I was there and use it for inspiration quite a bit. Great use of zigzags in particular. They have photos of what look thoroughly liked pieced quilts, but they look as if the fabrics used were knitted, which I am intrigued by.

Interesting idea about the afghan. It sounds a bit like the "quilt as you go" techniques. I imagine that you could also make a crocheted quilt by making the top and back separately, and then either lining them with very thin cotton before putting in the batting, or just using a plain blanket or piece of non-pilling fleece as the batting. Then you would probably want to tie the quilt instead of quilting it. This would at least have the advantage that you wouldn't have to do madly tight crocheting, and you could also set up a nice contrast with the underlying fleece/lining fabric, e.g. jewel tones for the crocheting and black for the lining/fleece (I'm thinking Amish patchwork here). Anyway, it sounds yummy, and I'd love to see some of your work too. I'll send you a link to my quilting blog by private message in case you're curious about mine.

And now I'm googling "crochet patchwork" and being blown away by the basic crochet patterns you can get, even though my hands don't have the grip strength for anything involving knitting needles or crochet hooks. Back to the baby quilts, woman! More babies are being born all the time! (Seriously, my Israeli ex just posted a picture of a tiny pretty baby on Facebook. I can't read Hebrew but I assumed the obvious, and indeed he is a proud new dad.) Resisting a new craft aside, I wonder how much overlap you get between quilting and crocheting? The practice of crocheting little squares already brings it closer.

I know what you mean about grip strength for crocheting and knitting. I don't have any problem with crochet hooks. I do have a couple ergonomic hooks, with padded handles. You can also get a crochet hook that essentially looks like a crochet hook stuck in a wooden ball or egg, so there's more to grab on to. My ergonomic hook only has a bit of vynil padding the bottom third of the hook. I've considered wrapping my crochet hooks in polymer clay and baking (I saw the technique online). Some folks make a smooth, thin handle, and others make a thick handle and grasp it as they would to use it, before baking so that finger impressions are baked into the clay.

I haven't found a way to make knitting easier, which is probably why washcloths are about the extent of my knit projects (and a couple bigger projects that alternated rows of knitting and rows of crochet).